


With Your Clothes On

by noodlecatposts



Series: ACOTAR AU Week 2019 [6]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Inspired By Tumblr, Nude Modeling, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlecatposts/pseuds/noodlecatposts
Summary: “So,” I begin awkwardly, clutching to my coffee up like it could save my life. It’s one thing to come face to face with someone you’ve seen naked and sitting on a stool underneath harsh lights for hours; it’s another to have found him so devastatingly attractive during it, clothed or nude.Posted for ACOTAR AU Week, Day 6: School/College AU
Relationships: Feyre Archeron & Alis, Feyre Archeron & Rhysand, Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Series: ACOTAR AU Week 2019 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568818
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100
Collections: ACOTAR AU Week Day 6





	With Your Clothes On

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, this was inspired a while back by a Tumblr post that has since disappeared into oblivion. It's derived from the personal story of a nude model for live (life?) drawing class... So, credit where credit is due.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

“Hey, Feyre! How are you?”

It takes me a second to recognize the person standing in front of me, bright-eyed and smiling. We’d made eye contact across the coffee cart with each other just now, and he’d smiled so warmly. There was no way I didn’t know him; unless he always smiled so kindly at a stranger.

But he was... familiar; though, I couldn’t say for the life of me from where. Then—

“Rhys!” I exclaim, connecting the dots, and Alis arches a brow at the smile in my voice. I’m never so good with strangers. Rhys is delighted by the recognition if his grin is anything to go by. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you, but I’ve never seen you with clothes on.”

Alis chokes on the sip of coffee in her mouth, caught off guard by my statement. I flush brightly, realizing how the words sound without the proper context, but Rhys’s eyes just sparkle with mirth. I don’t know how I could have failed to remember those eyes –or that jawline for that matter – but life drawing class is a stressful thing. It tends to blur, fade from memory, as do most stressful, PTSD inducing things.

“Uh,” I stammer, sharing a look with Rhys. “Rhys was my live model for—“

“The hot guy?” Alis interrupts; she takes in Rhys with a quick glance. “Oh yeah. He fits the bill.”

As if I couldn’t blush any harder, I wish I would pick friends with better filters. Rhys’s smile is so pleased that it crinkles the corners of his eyes. “I’m happy you think so highly of me, Feyre.”

His voice is just as teasing as always. We’d shared more than our fair share of quips back in class. It would seem that hadn’t changed now.

I narrow my eyes. I didn’t think Rhys's grin could stretch any farther. “Prick.”

“Right,” Alis looks between the two of us with knowing eyes, smiles into her coffee cup. “I’m just going to go be… somewhere else.”

I watch my friend abandon me with horror. See if I ever sit through one of those horrible, foreign black and white films of hers, again! Who am I kidding? I totally will, and I won’t understand a word of it.

“So,” I begin awkwardly, clutching to my coffee up like it could save my life. It’s one thing to come face to face with someone you’ve seen naked and sitting on a stool underneath harsh lights for hours; it’s another to have found him so devastatingly attractive during it, clothed or nude. 

“Hello,” I flush at my idiocy; it doesn’t stop my stammering. “Funny seeing you here. On campus. Where we go to school.”

Rhys bites his lip as if to avoid laughing at my silliness. I want to die. 

“Yes, it’s as great a surprise to me as it is to you—a good surprise, I might add,” Rhys tucks his free hand into his pocket and swirls his coffee with the other.

“It is?” I wrinkle my forehead in confusion. For a split second, Rhys’s smile falters, but resolution takes its place quickly. He gives me a feline grin. I see we’re going back to the teasing.

“I’ve wanted to ask you out for ages,” Rhys tells me, making my heart stop. That was not what I thought was going to come out of his mouth. I didn’t believe Rhys could sound so…vulnerable; I mean the guy models for strangers nake.

But Rhys just looks defeated, bracing for rejection. “I never really was able to find the right way to do it—to ask you. It didn’t seem quite right to say ‘Feyre, I think you look just adorable with charcoal smeared across your cheek and your brow all furrowed. Will you go out with me?’ while wearing nothing but my birthday suit.”

“You think I’m cute?” I stammer, heart pounding. Alis, of course, had already given voice to my opinions on his appearance. I didn’t think I could turn any redder; my blush has me sweating in the cold. 

Rhys lets out a little breath of a laugh, ducking his head to hide the dusting of pink on his own cheeks. It makes me smile. “Very,” he says at last. 

“Yes,” I answer his question from before. The one he didn’t exactly ask me but instead admitted to wanting to. I hope the offer still stands. “If you still want to?”

His head snaps up, delighted. “Yes,” Rhys tells me quickly, forgetting the sly comment that’s undoubtedly supposed to accompany this moment. “Come to dinner with me, Feyre Darling.” His eyes twinkle. That’s more like it.

Now I’m the one ducking my head, my ears burning. “Uh, when did you want to do that?”

He looks to be considering something, glancing at the darkening sky. “Is it pushing my luck to say now?”

***

Next semester, I take another life drawing class. The day the model is scheduled to debut, I’m already expecting the fantastic view I find in the center of the classroom, but if I hadn’t, the flushes faces and giggles of the other students would’ve given it away. 

Inside the studio, I find Rhys, perched atop a stool, and searching for a comfortable position. Sensing me in that way of his, my boyfriend glances up, flashes me a roguish smile and a wink. I wiggle my eyebrows back at him in response, but I choose to claim a seat out of his line of sight. If we spend the next three weeks making faces at each other for hours at a time, I’ll fail, and he’ll be fired.

“Do you know him?” The girl beside me whisper-hisses. Her cheeks are flushed, and I have to bite back the smile that threatens.

I set to work getting my things ready to draw. This trip around the course won’t be so bad this time; I’ve had plenty of practice sketching this backside.

“Something like that,” I say ominously.


End file.
